Adidas Unveils All-Star Uniforms

At last year’s NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles, adidas brought the Hollywood shine to its glossy All-Star Game jerseys. The tone will be decidedly less flashy this year in Orlando to account for the city’s laid-back nature.

In an ode to the classic 1992 All-Star Game, made famous by Magic Johnson’s 25-point MVP performance, this year’s All-Star threads feature an array of details reminiscent of that contest.

The block lettering for the jerseys is oversized to recapture the uniforms from that game. This year’s jackets and jerseys have what adidas calls dip-dyed hardwood heather patterns that resemble the floor of the old Orlando Arena, which is the arena in which the ’92 game was played.

Clumsy technical lingo aside, the jerseys contain three stripes along the side that go from solid form near the chest to split-up stripes that fade towards the hip. I wouldn’t call the look ‘subtle’, but it’s also not overbearing.

The colors of each jersey—blue for the East and red for the West—are rich and complement the accent colors used for the numbers, stars and adidas and NBA patches on the shoulders – silver accents for the East and gold for the West. Adidas added a personalization to each player’s shooting shirt by posting the number of All-Star appearances of each guy on the back collar.

The game shorts were inspired by board shorts—another nod to Florida—and have a sublimated mesh pattern to give the shorts better performance and breathability, according to adidas. I think I’ll warm up to these, but the contrast in colors between the shorts and the bottom half of the jerseys is stark. You can click on the following links to check out the East and West full uniforms.

Get ready for an unusual look in the on-court warm-ups. Adidas added elbow patches for the jackets, and a denim look to the pants. I don’t think either design is all that pleasant. I’m not really thinking about denim when watching a basketball game, so the connection is lost on me. Elbow patches seem to me like they’re for older folks. (Make your Florida joke here.)

Adidas will continue the Florida theme with orange kicks. The company’s top two NBA endorsers get orange’d up in their signature shoes—Derrick Rose for his adizero Rose 2.5 and Dwight Howard for his adiPower Howard 2. The shoes look great for the mood they’re supposed to capture. I’m relieved the East wears blue uniforms because orange shoes with red uniforms would’ve burnt my retinas. At least what I have left of my retinas following the Memphis Tams game I watched on January 26.